In order to promote the hand/eye coordination necessary to play the game of baseball, a number of devices are available for children to develop their baseball, particularly batting, skills. In the simplest form, batting tees are available whereby a ball is manually placed on the tee so that it is elevated above the ground at a height suitable for hitting.
For more advanced training, devices are available which project a ball into the air so that the child may learn to hit the moving target. In most such devices, a ball is placed on a projecting mechanism which is then activated to toss the ball generally vertically upward. There is a wide variety of known projecting mechanisms, such as pedal operated devices, air powered devices, and the like which can be quite complex and usually involve some type of time delay feature whereby the child can place the ball on the projecting mechanism and thereafter position himself to swing at the ball which is subsequently projected.
A few known devices provide combined teeing and tossing capabilities. One such device is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,590,876. In that device, a ball can be placed on a tee or projected through a launching tube which can be oriented at different angles. However, projecting a ball through a tube is problematic because the potential friction between the ball being projected and the tube can result in inconsistent tosses. Moreover, the operation of the device of this patent requires multiple manipulations. After a ball is manually positioned, one foot pedal is operated to cock the launching mechanism and then a pneumatically operated remote release pedal is activated to project the ball after a predetermined time delay. As such, this device is quite costly, complex and cumbersome to operate.
Thus, the need exists for a simple and economically manufactured device which can automatically load a ball onto a tee or toss a ball in one simple operation by the user.